Training Schedule Posted

[cliango]

Hi,
The training schedule posted is great, but it says 8 weeks but the schedule is only 4 weeks. It's my first triathlon I am fit, good on the bike and swim but really battle with running any tips?

[Guest]

Hey there - Chris Felgate (our manager of the Elite Team) is racing this weekend, but I am sure will respond to your request tomorrow with regards running tips.

[Chris Felgate]

Hi there.
This is the first 4 weeks of the 8 week program. As you will see it is for the beginner. If you have a good swim and bike base, getting through 5 km's in the race will not be difficult. For how long (in mins) can you run at the moment? When you say battle with the run, what exactly do you mean? Training for a run in a triathlon is different to normal running, so the program will get you to do some 'brick' sessions whereby you run immediately after a bike ride. I fyou give me some more info I can give you some specific advice on this
Cheers

[cliango]

Thanks Chris for the response. On the week end we do a 40km cycle followed by a 5km run. I can only run for 10 min then need to walk for 2-3 min and then can run for 10min again. When I only run its a similar pattern.
When I say battle I mean - I do a 70 km cycle in approx 2.05.00, my running I feel is so weak.

[Chris Felgate]

No problem. Looking at the training program- which week would you be in with regards to running?

The biggest risk with running is injury as it is the most demanding on the body. This is why there are walk breaks- it slowly gets the body used to running- an adaptation phase where your muscles, ligaments tendons and bones get used to the impact. It is better to be more conservative at the start with running. As 10 mins is what you can manage at the moment, try and look at reducing the time you run but increase the frequency ie: (run 6 mins, walk 1 min) x 4. This means your overall run time is actually more than doing 10 min run, walk 3mins, 10 min run. You will find that each week you can increase the minutes running and eventually decrease the walk breaks. Add 1 min a week to the run and keep your walk breaks to 1 min for 3 consecutive weeks so that you land up running just over 30 mins in one session in week 3. With this kind of increase, week 4 you can attempt running 12 mins at once, walk 2 mins then run 6 mins so overall time is 20 mins but should feel easy. This is a form of test so that by week 5 you can run more continuously and then get into a typical cycle of increasing your mileage for 3 weeks and reducing it the 4th week. Run every other day to slowly allow your body to adapt.
Let me know if this is more specific to your needs rather than the program?

[cliango]

Awesome, Thanks Chris. I will try this and give some feed back. Thanks again.

[Chris Felgate]

No problem- let me know how things go. Good luck!

[UpThere]

Hi there. I am new and not so fit .Think i can get fit enough for the half ironman in Jan 2011? I can do a 10k run in 60 min, but longer than that ill have to walk 2-3 min and then only 5k at a time to do a 21. Cycling I have only been doin for fun, 15k out rides no times recorded though. Swimming not more that 400m at a time and I have not done any of these events in sucsession. Any good advice for the 3 months ahead? Oh I run every day 5K TO 7K. p.s I ONLY RIDE ON WEEKENDS AND ONLY SWIM IN THE SUMMER SOO NOTHING IN THE WATER SINCE LAST SUMMER......I have time to do more in the week

[Chris Felgate]

Hi Upthere... it is definitely possible to do a Half IM in Jan 2011, however, you will need to get in some good training before then. You will need to be able to swim a 3km swim set in the pool (not continuous but broken up into a warm up, main session and cool down) by end of Dec. Running 'off the bike' is very different to running 'fresh'. If you can build into running 10km then walk for 2 mins, run 5km, walk 2mins run 6km then you will be fine. If you are only cycling 15km at a time now, then this is something you will really need to ramp up because this is a very crucial leg in a Half IM. If time is an issue, you can get away with doing 2 1h spinning classes during the week and then riding a long ride on the weekend. This will need to start at 1.5hrs and build eventually up to 4-5hrs by early January. By mid November, you will need to ride at least one spin class and a 1.5- 2hr ride in the week and then riding a long ride on the weekend. A good plan could also be to do some of the BSG Energade Races on the Sunday, having done a shorter ride on the Saturday. There will also be an Olympic Distance event on in the Vaal on 16 December which I would recommend doing as a good test for the Half IM in Jan.
Hope some of this helps! Good luck,

[Chris Felgate]

Weeks 4-8 coming soon....